Clothes
by KawaiiGirl1215
Summary: Violet wants to get some new clothes and Henry's wondering why. Set after Season 5. **Title and chapters may change if I decide to make this a one-shot collection**


HENRY

I tried to look inconspicuous, or as inconspicuous as I could standing alone in front of a girl's' clothing store on a Saturday evening.

I ran my hands nervously through my hair. It wasn't a long time habit; my mom had stared at me weirdly when I first did it.

"Sorry, Henry," Emma had laughed while trying to wipe her eyes. "It's just that Neal used to do that all the time when he was nervous. It's just so uncanny of how much you're like him." Then she'd sniffled and gone back to organizing files in the sheriff's office.

I found himself staring up at the store's brightly-lit sign. It flickered ever so slightly under my gaze.

Suddenly, I realized exactly what I was doing. What was I doing here? Waiting outside a clothing store for the girl I had a crush on to come out so we could go on our first (technically second, but let's not get into that) date?

 _Was I a total idiot?_

I seriously considered bolting from there. Hadn't our last date given me any indication that she didn't like me like that?

But wait. Rewind.

That was weeks ago, and many things had happened since then. She'd gone to New York with me! Heck, I'd kissed her and I was pretty sure she'd kissed me _back_.

I sighed a sigh filled with giddiness and weariness at the same time. I busied my mind on other things than kisses that could make me go crazy. (Really, did Hook feel this way every time he did that with my mom? I'd have to ask him some time.)

Really, what was taking so long? I sighed and pushed myself off of the streetlight I was leaning against and was about to pull open the door to go inside, when door suddenly shot open.

I stumbled backward in an attempt to save myself from being smacked, and luckily avoided any concussion I may or may not have gotten.

 _I swear, Grace is the most hyper person I know,_ I grumbled inwardly.

"Okay, she'll be out in a minute! I just thought I'd leave first, so, you know, it wouldn't be awkward," the Mad Hatter's daughter assured me. "Oh, sorry, did I hit you? I'm sorry, I wasn't looking."

"Ah, that's okay. Thanks," I said, trying not to look too stupid.

"Okay then, well, see ya!" Grace smiled and walked away.

"Wait!" I called out suddenly. She paused and turned.

"Uh, thanks, Grace. It really means a lot to me. And Violet."

Grace smiled, and for a second, I saw her like all the other guys in my class. Smart, kind, pretty, and way out of my league.

"No problem," she said softly. "Now you better have a good time!" With that, she bounded away, her blonde ponytail swinging behind her.

I smiled to himself. Grace had been a good friend of mine for as long as I could remember. She was like my sister of sorts. She looked like the kind of girl who'd be a cheerleader in High School Musical, but really she was like a protective mother (like I didn't already have enough of those). She and I helped each other out a lot, which is what had just happened.

Violet wanted to go on a date with me, but… she didn't want to do it right away. She was tired of wearing dresses and high heels and fancy stuff like that. She wanted to try acting like a normal 13-year-old girl first, instead of one that had been uprooted from Camelot.

So I'd taken her to school, introduced her to Grace, shown her around town a little more. I wasn't sure what she wanted. After all, Violet did already have a phone and know how to text (which was more than I could say for some of the adults from the Enchanted Forest).

Then, one day, Grace took her shopping. And Violet was in awe. So, she decided that, hey, if she was going to act like someone in the 21st century, might as well look the part too.

And now, here I was, waiting for Violet to come out of the store so we could… do something. I hadn't actually planned anything out yet, but… all in good time.

I was kind of confused though. I mean, did clothes really matter that much? They were just stuff to wear. It didn't matter what you wore if you were a jerk at heart. But whatever. If Violet wanted to, then she would.

And I was kind of curious about what she'd picked out. I mean, Snow wore… mother-like things, Regina wore pantsuits all the time, and Emma wore the first thing she got from reaching into her closet half the time. Plus my school was a private school, and it wasn't like I was around a lot to see female classmates walking around town on weekends. I was too busy getting stranded between realms, or stopping Gold's evil plans, or traveling to Hell. All in a day's work for Henry Mills.

All of a sudden, the door opened slowly, and out stepped Violet.

And then I realized why she had spent so much time in that store.

"Uh…," I said intelligently.

She smiled hopefully.

"You look, uh, you look nice, Violet," I said, hopefully not sounding like a total loser.

"Oh," she said, and kind of deflated. My eyes widened.

"I- I mean, like, you look good. Better than good. Like, really good… kind of." I wanted to kick myself. Stupid me and my stupid mouth!

"Thanks," she laughed.

And she did look better-than-good. Her hair was normal, but she was wearing jean shorts (the kind that I knew for certain Regina would _never_ let me wear if I was a girl. _Short_ shorts.) and blue tank top that wasn't all too special, but she made it look like it.

"You don't look too bad yourself," she said, walking with me to the park (read: I suddenly decided to go to the park so I walked confidently down the sidewalk like I had planned it the whole time.).

I shrugged self-consciously and really wished I put more thought into my Emma-style grab-some-jeans-and-a-shirt-and-let's-go outfit. But it _was_ spring, and most of my clothes were long-sleeves, so you couldn't really blame me.

Instead of thinking about my fashion choices, I contented myself with walking side-by-side with Violet.

* * *

VIOLET

Henry always said that Storybrooke wasn't anything like a lot of other towns in the country, and I never really believed him until we went to New York.

Everything there was big, loud, and bustling, unlike the quaint little town he lived in. But even Storybrooke was far different than the Camelot I was used to.

For one, the sounds were a lot different. Most of them came from those machines that Henry tried to explain were like "horses, except with wheels, but they aren't alive, they're just machines. Not like carriages, though. They move themselves. It's hard to explain," he had said sheepishly.

The food was much different too. In Camelot, the food was awfully fancy. Grand dishes of exotic meats and strange fruits were not uncommon. Also, we basically ate all our food at the table. Anything I took as a snack for when I went riding was plain: an apple or two, maybe some bread, maybe some cheese.

But here, anywhere in this time actually, most of the food that people ate wasn't fancy at all. The dish I ate most often was bread with cheese on it called pizza, and it was delicious. Henry told me that everyone ate pizza, not just royals like Queen Snow and King Charming.

Plus, although my father and I did sit down to eat, I spent a lot of time eating while walking or eating in the… car (that's what it's called, right? The horse-with-wheels?).

But the most fascinating thing about the future was the things that people would wear. Which is why Henry's friend Grace took me to a clothing store to get something new to wear. I was tired of dresses, and seeing girls walking around in pants was new to me. Not like I didn't wear pants, just not that often. Only when I was riding. It was a refreshing change.

And Grace. She was… interesting. "She's pretty… overwhelming," Henry had said, right before he'd left me with her. "But also really fun. You'll like her, you just have to get used to her first."

And I did have to get used to her, but Henry was right. She was fun. She showed me all the things that people wore in Storybrooke, but was sometimes confusing when she talked. The first time she saw me, she had said, "So you're Henry's crush, huh? Not bad, Henry. She's pretty." I had frowned, but Henry turned really red. And anyone who made Henry blush other than me and his family was intriguing.

" _Grace_ -" Henry had started, but I interrupted him.

"What is a crush?"

Grace had grinned. "A crush is someone you like." Seeing my blank face, she'd tried to explain. "It's like… what's that word you use… oh! It's like someone you want to court."

I'd raised my eyebrows and glanced at Henry, who was blushing furiously and staring at the ground.

I'd looked at her for a second and laughed. "I'm Violet," I had said, smiling. She grinned.

"I'm Grace. Looks like we're going to be having a lot of fun. Bye Henry!" She had looped her arm in mine and skipped off. I'd looked back, expecting to see Henry looking annoyed, but instead he had been smiling and shaking his head. He'd waved and I waved back.

She had talked to me while we were in the store. A lot. She wasn't the kind of girl to let silence faze her. She'd told me about the different kinds of clothes there were (there really were too many. Boys thankfully had less options). She'd told me about her life in the Enchanted Forest, and how things were around Storybrooke. She'd told me how she knew Henry, and how she'd gotten to be his really good friend after he helped reunite her with her father, the Mad Hatter.

"He's pretty cool," Grace had said fondly. I definitely agreed. He may have destroyed magic, but he'd also restored it in a matter of minutes. He had much more power than he knew.

I thought about all this as Henry and I sat walked around in the park and sat down on a bench.

I tugged at my shorts unconsciously and sat down next to Henry. It's not that I didn't like my clothes, but they took a little getting used to.

My actions didn't go unnoticed by Henry, and he looked at me and asked, "Can I ask you a question, Violet?"

I nodded my consent.

"Don't take this the wrong way, it's not like I was annoyed that you wanted to get settled in a little more, but why did you want to learn all this new stuff and buy these new clothes? Your old ones were really nice too."

I sighed. "Well, I've always been curious, and I wanted to know more about this strange land if I'm going to be staying here a while. And I'd seen people walking around and doing all sorts of things and wearing all sorts of clothes and I wanted to try it too. I'm sorry it took a while. This world has… lots of… improvements. It just took a while to get used to."

Henry smiled and said, "Don't worry, at least you know how to text. Hook hardly knows how to call my mom and he's been here way longer than you have. But…," he trailed off. "But I get the feeling that isn't the whole story." Hesitantly, he took my hand and rubbed his thumb over it soothingly.

I was pretty sure he didn't know that my heart was going faster than a galloping horse.

I was also pretty sure he didn't know that he was doing it, otherwise he would've been blushing like crazy. Actually, he probably wouldn't have done it at all. He was often too nervous, so I made all the advances. And I liked making him all red, so it was worth it. But when _he_ did it… that was too much.

I smiled, knowing he'd noticed my ulterior motives. At first, we had just been pretty faces to each other, but over time, I'd like to say that I learned how to calm him down, and he learned how to read me better. Now we knew each other very well.

"Yes," I began. "There is another reason…" I sighed. "I just wanted to fit in. When I walked around town, people looked at me strangely, probably because of what I was wearing. I didn't want to stand out… and I also didn't want to irritate you or anything because I hardly know anything of this place and you have to teach me all the time. So I decided to learn and dress different. I was just feeling a little out of place, that's all."

Henry's hold on my hand tightened. "I'm sorry you felt that way, Violet. But just so you know, I would never get annoyed because I have to teach you stuff! I like teaching you things, though I know I'm not the best at explaining. And you know…" he smiled. "When we were in Camelot, I don't know if you remember, but I was trying to court you then too," he said with a slight blush on his face. It wasn't so much as it was when we were with Grace. I had noticed long ago that he wasn't nearly as nervous when we were all alone.

"And when I was trying to get you to like me back, I tried to learn how to be a knight. I tried to learn how to sword fight, because back in Camelot, your dad didn't like me nearly as much and thought that I couldn't protect you with a pen. He thought I should be a knight. I guess I should've mentioned it was a magic pen."

He scratched his neck sheepishly. "Anyway, the sword fighting didn't work out so great. I was practicing in the woods when my moms found me, and you know what they said? They said that I was an exotic stranger in Camelot, so I should used that to my advantage. I was interesting. And you are too! I've seen the way people look at you too. And it is because your different, but not in a bad way. In an exotic stranger way. Many of these people have spent their whole lives in one place: their village. They're just as ready to learn new things as you are, and you're something to take interest in. So I think you should embrace it. But," he said, his eyes sparkling mischievously, "that doesn't mean you should drop the new look. I think I like it. A lot."

I laughed and thought over what he said. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to let my Camelot-ness out a little bit. I _was_ an object of interest, after all.

Suddenly, Henry realized what he'd been doing this whole time and started to take his hand out of mine. I knew it wasn't because he didn't like it; it was just an impulse. He wasn't one to do things first.

But I liked where it was, so I moved my fingers so they were interlaced with mine and pulled his hand back down.

He gulped and obeyed. I moved closer and laid my head on his shoulder. "Thanks, Henry," I murmured, and we stayed like that for a while. The Author and the Exotic Camelot Girl.


End file.
